One and two-dimensional barcodes, and other symbologies, have become ubiquitous throughout the global marketplace, particularly with respect to product or item identification, and expediting merchant transactions involving the same. For example, it has long been common practice to include a barcode or similar symbology on product packaging. The symbology includes encoded information that identifies the product in a manner recognizable by a computer. The symbology may be scanned by a barcode reader, which, in turn, decodes the symbology, thereby identifying a purchased product or the like to the computer or a user.
While one-dimensional (1-D) barcodes rose to prominence since their introduction in the 1970's, two-dimensional (2-D) barcodes have since been developed, which boast the capacity to store greater amounts of information than its predecessors. Such 2-D barcodes are now prevalent, for example, in mail and package delivery, as well as many other industries.
One particular category of 2-D barcodes, referred to collectively in the marketplace as QR codes, have gained rapid acceptance over the past decade with the proliferation of “smart” cellular telephones and other personal data or communication devices. Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes are now used in many diverse areas, such as commercial tracking applications, as well as convenience-oriented applications aimed particularly at smartphone users. QR codes can be used to display text to the user, add contact information to a user's device, open a web page, or compose a text message or electronic mail message. Users can also generate and print their own personalized, data-encoded QR code and post it at various real-world locations or sites on the Internet. QR codes oftentimes are used to store network or telephone communication network addresses, such as a link to a particular uniform resource locator (URL) on the Internet, or other computer network address.
QR codes may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or on just about any object or projection that individuals may come across in the real world. Those having a smartphone equipped with a camera and an appropriate code reader software application can then scan the image of the QR code and receive the information encoded thereby. The linking of data to physical objects in this manner is commonly referred to as a “hardlink” or a “real-world hyperlink.”
In all prior uses of barcodes and like symbologies, there has been one consistent goal, namely to provide a means by which information returned from a scan of the code is consistent each and every time the code is scanned. For example, when a barcode on a product is scanned, the same product information is returned to users scanning that code every time. The Applicants now introduce a distinguishable use of symbologies, such as QR codes, in hardlink applications.